Page 59 of My Rules for Revenge
“Well, this is shocking,” Vivian said with a surprised look on her face.
“Yeah, because he’s lying like the complete hog he is,” I spat out.
I stumbled over to Jacob while Vivian held my arm.
“Heather, please don’t hit him. Let’s try to be chill.”
“I won’t hit him. Relax.”
“You can hit me if you want—I deserve it,” Jacob added.
I looked right into his eyes and peered into his soul. I didn’t believe a single word he said. After all, he was drunk. I knew he didn’t mean any of it.
“Oh, please. Cut the sympathy card, Jacob. You’re a bully, and you need to learn how to respect people. You know what I think? I think your BU Scholarship is in trouble. That’s why you’re trying to end this. Well, guess what? It’s not happening. You started this, and I’ll be the one who’ll finish it.”
I pulled back as far as I could and clobbered him right in the nose. He yelped and tripped backwards.
“Okay, we’re leaving right now. That was very not chill,” Vivian said with certainty.
“That was perfectly chill.”
As we left, I glanced back and saw that Jacob bled from his nose, and I relished in satisfaction. In my eyes, he finally got what he truly deserved. A high-quality ass-kicking. I hadn’t forgotten what he had done to me. He leaked my nudes for virtually no reason. I was willing to go to the ends of the Earth to make him as miserable as he had made me.
Once I got home, I rushed past my worrisome mother and completely shut her out as I bolted upstairs. She was right—I held grudges. As I sat on my bed, I massaged my pounding head. The pounding headache got worse when I received another message fromangel66.
“That was a nice party you went to, Heather.”
This message creeped me out. This person was probably at the party or saw the pictures online. Either way, this meant he went to my school. I still thought it was Jacob or one of his idiotic friends, because someone outside of that circle wouldn’t have made any sense.
“I’m happy you’re still having fun after ruining my life.”
“I know it’s either you, Jacob, or Carlos. Get laid! If that’s even possible for either of you,” I replied.
“I needed you that day. You betrayed me.”
This sounded absolutely ridiculous. I knew in my heart that I didn’t ruin anyone’s life except for Jacob’s, and he obviously deserved it, so I didn’t care ifangel66turned out to be him.
“What the hell are you talking about? Who are you? I hope you know you’re a strange loser with no life,” I replied.
“I have a plan, Heather, and there’s no way you’ll see it coming. I’m going to ruin your life, and there’s nothing you’ll be able to do about it.”
“You sound like a corny supervillain from a kids’ cartoon. Please eat shit and die,” I replied.
After that, the account went dark again. I thought about blocking it, but I enjoyed entertaining their nonsense.
As I tried to fall asleep, my mom knocked on the door. I ignored it as my eyelids grew heavy. I dreamt of shooting Jacob out of a cannon on a pirate ship while he was on fire. I imagined his ear-shattering screams as his flesh crackled and burned. It was a marvelous sight.
CHAPTER 14
INDIRA - 1 YEAR EARLIER
After school, I dreaded going home. We lived in a cramped apartment in an old, decrepit building near the highway. There were homeless people who lived on the street corners leading up to my house. I saw them so often I could still remember their faces.
One of them usually shouted very hurtful words at me. He had half his hair missing, and his dirty toes poked out through his greasy black shoes. He also had no teeth, so I mostly heard angry gibberish.
It wasn’t the best place, but my parents weren’t rich—they just did what they could with what they had. I just wish my family were calmer and more stable. I forgave them for not having a lot of money. I couldn’t forgive them for having a household that was in constant turmoil.
My parents usually fought six times a week. I often came home to a fiery, screaming match that upset my stomach and my nerves. I was then forced to run to my room, where I would lock myself in until late at night. That’s when I would sneak downstairs to eat something that my mother had cooked. By then, the fighting would’ve died down as my father watched his late-night soccer matches on TV.
